Does anyone know if the Les Invalides altar canopy in Paris (Napoleon's tomb) is modeled after the St.Peter Basilica canopy in Rome? They are remarkably similar. The Arc de Triomphe also resembles the arches in the Roman forum, so I assume the canopy similarities are not coincidental.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Lamont: I don't know the answer to your question, but can contribute some knowledge: the Invalides Baroque style dome is definitely, although loosely, modeled on St Peter's, the model for many. However, about the baldaquin (canopy) in the Invalides' Eglise du Dome (one of the two churches in Invalides), the original baldaquin was replaced in roughly 1850 by the one you now see. And the two back to back churches interest some visitors: the Eglise du Dome was originally for royals and the Eglise St Louis for the old soldiers and staff. I'll bet you can answer your question with Google, maybe the Advanced Search feature. If you get an answer, let us know or PM me.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Lamont: After I posted above, I got interested and found this website: click hereThis site is in French but does confirm, on its home page, that the original baldaquin was replaced (actually it says "reconstructed") by Visconti in 1852. Maybe it will get you started on answering your question, although in Google I found some things on the Dome but nothing on the baldaquin and most of the sites are in French.